Monstrous new BT email upgrade

[Jules68]

New Readers Start Here...

BT has developed an exclusive email front-end (Web Mail) and is moving its customers from the service provided by Yahoo (and branded BT Yahoo) to its own brand. As far as we can see the back-end – other than the server interface – has not changed, so data is still (mainly) stored as before.

In the move some customers (possibly many) lost some of their contacts and other contacts were garbled, all customers lost any e-mail groups they had set up and some customers lost messages which were in dynamic folders (the ones the system can write to) such, particularly, as Sent mail. This is not recoverable.

BT operates a different SPAM algorithm to Yahoo, which has led to ‘good’ messages being sent to SPAM and SPAM being sent to the inbox. Some of the new blocks (e.g. to anything from Amazon) seem bizarre.

BT has admitted (in terms of the planned releases it is making) that there is room for improvement in its new offering – some of which is not just cosmetic.

For some customers the service now offered is appalling, with multiple problems including lagging and crashes. However, this experience is not uniform. My partner and I have similar systems, Windows 10 and Chrome – on hers BT Web Mail works relatively smoothly, mine has huge lags and anomalies. It should be noted that under BT Yahoo (whatever is different on our machines in terms of drivers and other programmes) the Web Mail worked OK – indeed if anything mine was better. So it is clear that BT Web Mail doesn’t ‘like’ some of what we have on our computers, even though BT Yahoo Mail could cope. This makes the issue BT’s, not ours.

Because the system is new (and not intuitive) there are some work arounds which do work, and people on this board can offer some good advice (like how to deal with wrongly identified SPAM).

The more general advice, for those with real problems and who are able, is to work through an e-mail client – such as Outlook or Thunderbird. This provides the sort of interface experience you would want. [People on the Basic (free) service which is offered for those not taking BT Broadband will not be able to use a client, however.]

Ignore those who tell you (once you’ve followed any advice they offer for fixes, and these haven’t worked) that it works fine for them, if it doesn’t work fine for you. It is clear that people’s experiences are very different, and as they weren’t with BT Yahoo, the problem lies with BT’s coding of its new front-end.

Oh, and if it looks worse for you - then it is worse (for you). If other people like the new layout and colours and intensity, well I'm pleased for them.

[SCCO]

Here's another thing.

Does anyone else experience their inbox showing there is a new message but you can't actually see what it is in the preview pane or message list for up to a couple of minutes -- such as when you're waiting for the code you need to verify entry to a Teams meeting you're already late for, or to access online banking. 

As others have said, it's time to migrate to Outlook or another email client.  

[dazbon]

Totally agree & I see that you mention Chrome. I have found that, although not everything is perfect, I have switched to using Edge instead & things do appear to work a lot smoother with Windows 10, that is for me at least but others may have found little change with email ver.2.17.

[Jules68]

Actually, I've just noticed that Chrome is marking the BT Web Mail site as 'Not Secure' - (in fact, 'Not Fully Secure') - I also note that BT places 75 cookies to use the site.

But it does have a valid DigiCert certificate, which expires at the end of next February.

The old Yahoo Mail site (which I can still access having changed my ID and Log in - of course it doesn't pick up any email) is not marked 'Not Secure'.

Maybe someone from BT could explain this anomaly.

[JohnRH]

@Jules68 

Excellent post outlining the issues.

Many here could learn a lesson or two by doing exactly what you have done. First rate.

I would just add or rather reinforce your views.

When users come here reporting problems it's because THEY have a problem. The fact it doesn't occur on other users setups is totally irrelevant because we all know that issues affect some users and not others. Users will need help and advice as to how to rectify the problem or how to find a work around until someone at BT solves the issue.

If the users find the suggested work arounds do not solve the problem then it should be painfully obvious that they still have a problem which I would have thought that BT would want to know about as it's clearly highlighting issues that needs attention. My last 24 hrs here being a clear example.

Users should ignore the comments that it's all fine and dandy. If it is for some then good for them and users should ask themselves why these people are here telling them it's fine and whether knowing that is helping them deal with their problem. It's rather like taking your car into the garage and the mechanic dismissing your problem because his car is running well.

There's a wealth of knowledge to be found here but sometimes it's not easy to find even when you do ask. It can be rather like going into Sainsburys and asking for a hard to find item to be told "it's in the store", better to be told "it's on aisle 17 halfway down on the right hand in a blue box" or even better to take you there and show you.

Users just persevere and don't be disheartened by some reactions. You're far from alone in this.

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@Stephen5000wrote:

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@Oddbodkinwrote:

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@Stephen5000wrote:

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@DISRUPTEDwrote:

v=2.17.1 still unstable. Fails to load or do what it's supposed to every day on many visits.  Wastes a lot of time when one can't get anything to load, have to delete 'one by one' and when box contents 'disappear' sporadically. One can't even log-out when it goes bananas! (Wait state = "loading", except it doesn't.)

It's been at least 3 weeks since this 'buggy' (or beta) version was issued. Users have tested it for you now and told you it's buggy. So why no 'fix' update by now?

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My comment on this will be wildly unhelpful for you, but v2.17.1 has been 100% stable for me. Obviously, it has all the known bugs etc, but it has never failed to load, or lost the ability to read/send emails. I feel the issues you are experiencing are exacerbated by this in that the instability you are experiencing isn't a general issue for many others. Hopefully the next update will sort out whatever is ailing your system...

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The issues ARE a general problem, hence multiple people making posts stating they're suffering from them.

It's NOT "our systems" which are ailing, it's BT's utter rubbish email system.

They've known it's rubbish for months, yet clearly don't care enough about their customers to allocate the resources needed to fix the mess.

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Maybe it's your definition of 'unstable' is the issue. Windows 3.1 was unstable - every few days you'd just get the infamous BSOD (Blue screen of death) as it simply crashed for no known reason requiring a full reboot. This is 'unstable'. I have experienced various programs over the decades that are genuinely unstable, crashing either itself, or your computer.

BT's email isn't 'unstable' as such. Yes, it has numerous faults with it's use, but it doesn't crash your computer, does it?

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Friend, if it hangs such that the browser page needs closing and reopening then I'd say that's pretty much the equivelent of BSOD and unstable, wouldn't you?

(Whereas this community board is just buggy - like when I hit the reply button to one message, it takes me to the log-in, then reverts and I find I'm replying to a different message, as one example.)

[echo69]

Why fix/change what wasn't broken? do you realise the confusion created for the people living with Dementia? bad enough to have this disease with out some idiot changing something with out consultation or consideration that we have got use to using your change is far from Dementia friendly let alone user frendly.

[Jules68]

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@echo69wrote:
Why change what wasn't broken? do you realise the confusion created for the people living with Dementia? bad enough to have this disease with out some idiot changing something with out consultation or consideration that we have got use to using your change is far from Dementia friendly let alone user frendly.

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To be fair (why? Ed.) to BT - they didn't change it so much as move the service (or at least start that move, I don't think it's complete) from a service provided by Yahoo - over whom they have no real control - to one in their direct control.

I think they found that building an email Web Front End was much more difficult than they anticipated. I quite believe from the posts that they have made that they are aware of the issues and are trying to address them. They weren't just fiddling about with an existing service but building an entirely new one. I' guessing there were fiscal as much as operational drivers for this.

Where they have failed is to continue the migration even though they know their system is flawed. Granted they couldn't put the genie back in the bottle, but I am sure they could have negotiated an extension to their management contract with Yahoo.

The short-term solution is to move to an email client - these are stable, broadly intuitive in their design, and work fine with BT's data structure (your messages and folders). I  would chose an IMAP service rather than POP3 (clients will offer both) - particularly if you access via  a mobile as well as a PC.

But Dementia sufferers will of course find anything new difficult. Even a genuine improvement (which this isn't).  

[ChesterDrawers]

So a random scan through post indicated some of you have issues. What checks have you done to eliminate / isolate the issue.

Example Is it on every device( if you have access to more than one computer ) 

[Oddbodkin]

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@ChesterDrawerswrote:

So a random scan through post indicated some of you have issues. What checks have you done to eliminate / isolate the issue.

Example Is it on every device( if you have access to more than one computer ) 

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Similar issues across one PC, two laptops & an iPad.